TheBackShed.com

Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Thor-cade cabinet

Author

Message

PeteCotton

Guru

Joined: 13/08/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 368

Posted: 08:49pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Having been left unsupervised for a week, I've been tinkering, and I thought you guys might appreciate it.

As many of you know, I've always been a bit of an arcade buff, building cabinets and the like. I got the idea of using 1/2" steel pipe to make the frame of a cabinet - so that it would be light and rigid. I also re-used a really old (and heavy) 55" plasma TV that's been languishing in our basement.

Then to make a couple of back lit side panels using extra bright LEDs.

And then re-wiring an old control panel I built years ago. This has an Ultimarc I-PAC 4 keyboard encoder at the heart of it. It's a bit long in the tooth now, but still works great. Takes a bunch of digital inputs and converts them to USB keypresses.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0008/4262/9179/files/I-PAC_4_Player_Card_Wiring_Diagram.pdf?v=1600300277

The old control cabinet was Star Wars themed - so I refreshed it with a Thor based theme by buying a bunch of Thor Comic PDF's online and printing out the frames that I wanted.

Edited 2023-10-31 06:50 by PeteCotton

PeteCotton

Guru

Joined: 13/08/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 368

Posted: 08:56pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

I put a Raspberry Pi 400 in as the brains, and bought some original Thor movie posters (printed both sides) for the side panels and here is the end result.

PeteCotton

Guru

Joined: 13/08/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 368

Posted: 09:30pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

I've always thought the CMM2 would make an excellent arcade mainboard. I might try and hook it up to the I-PAC and see if I can get it doing something funky.

bigmik

Guru

Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2914

Posted: 09:50pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Pretty damn impressive Pete,

The final result looks very professional.

Regards,

Mick

Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<

PeteCotton

Guru

Joined: 13/08/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 368

Posted: 10:01pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

bigmik said Pretty damn impressive Pete,

The final result looks very professional.

Regards,

Mick

Thanks Mick. I appreciate it.

Pete

Grogster

Admin Group

Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9308

Posted: 10:35pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

+1!!!

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

darthvader
Regular Member

Joined: 31/01/2020
Location: France
Posts: 76

Posted: 10:46pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Just one word !

WOW !

Theory is when we know everything but nothing work ...
Practice is when everything work but no one know why ;)

lizby
Guru

Joined: 17/05/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 3150

Posted: 10:49pm 30 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Outstanding. Always a wonder what supervision may inhibit.

PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed

LeoNicolas

Guru

Joined: 07/10/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 479

Posted: 02:01am 31 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Wow PeteCotton, this is very very impressive. Great job my friend. It looks amazing

I think I need to come visit you to play some games with you

Frank N. Furter
Guru

Joined: 28/05/2012
Location: Germany
Posts: 830

Posted: 07:33am 31 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Hey, this looks really very fancy!!!

It's been 9 years again since I built my Arcade Cabinet...

https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?TID=6613#69172

Frank

PeteCotton

Guru

Joined: 13/08/2020
Location: Canada
Posts: 368

Posted: 02:26pm 31 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Thank you all. I am very happy with the end result. But now I need to write some actual original arcade games for it (rather than relying on Mame).

lizby said Outstanding. Always a wonder what supervision may inhibit.

There was carpentry on the dining room table. This is one of those things that is strictly forbidden when I am being supervised. Luckily, I think I got away with it.

Frank N. Furter said
It's been 9 years again since I built my Arcade Cabinet...

Frank

That looks great! It is such an addictive hobby.

Mixtel90

Guru

Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6798

Posted: 02:41pm 31 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

I never could play arcade games - and I'm still useless at it. These are really cool though. :)

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

lizby
Guru

Joined: 17/05/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 3150

Posted: 03:04pm 31 Oct 2023

Copy link to clipboard

Print this post

Mixtel90 said I never could play arcade games - and I'm still useless at it.

I took my teenage nephew to an arcade for his birthday (decades ago), and while he was getting maybe 10-15 minutes of play for a quarter, I was doing well to get 2. After I started getting the hang of it a bit I said to him that if I came for 30 days and spent $20 a day, I might learn how to play. He said, "Yeah, but you wouldn't be good".

So it's ChemiChaos or Soduko for me.

PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed

Print this page

To reply to this topic, you need to log in.